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In February 2788First PrinceJohn Davion launched Operation SOLAR SHIELD, a desperate plan to try and disrupt the invasion of the Federated Suns launched by the Draconis Combine in May 2787. Prince John had been preparing to invade the Capellan Confederation when news of the Combine invasion reached him, and the forces he drew together for SOLAR SHIELD were based on those three 'Mechregiments nearby earmarked for the abortive invasion of the Confederation plus some six assorted regiments of armor and infantry provided by regional militias within the Marlette Combat Region. Prince John divided his forces into three groups and launched strikes at three occupied worlds on the Terran flank of the invasion, hoping to disrupt the thrust being lead personally by CoordinatorMinoru Kurita.[14][49]

SOLAR SHIELD proved to be flawed from the outset; the units assembled lacked time to train together, Prince John's forces were limited in number, and he had only a handful of WarShips available to use to escort his forces. Senior officers advised against the operation, but Prince John felt that speed was of the essence, and ordered that the operation go ahead. Elbar was one of the worlds targeted by SOLAR SHIELD, and in May 2788 the Eighth Syrtis Fusiliers jumped into the system, initially encountering no serious difficulties. While the transport JumpShips recharged, the Fusilier DropShips set off for Elbar, along with a small WarShip escort, but before the JumpShips could finish recharging the Narukami-class destroyer DCS Tsutsuji appeared and attacked the transports, supported by two squadrons of aerospace fighters.[14]

The Fusiliers realized that they were heading into a trap, and that the DCMS forces were well-prepared for any attack; their two-ship WarShip escort lacked enough docking collars to enable the Fusiliers to escape with all their DropShips, so the Fusiliers resorted to transferring as many of their DropShip crews, passengers and equipment into the Carrack-class transport FSS Port Victoria as they could before jumping out of the Elbar system, abandoning their DropShips behind them. Combined with heavy defeats on Cartago and Schedar as well, SOLAR SHIELD was an abject failure that cost the AFFS men and resources it couldn't afford to lose.[14]